The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has opened "Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits," the first exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's portraits of the Roulin family—the local postman Joseph Roulin, his wife Augustine, and their children. The show brings together 14 of Van Gogh's 26 depictions of the family, including loans from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The exhibition was inspired by a 2018 conversation between curators Nienke Bakker and Katie Hanson, who realized no show had ever focused on this working-class family that was so central to Van Gogh's portraiture.
This exhibition matters because it reframes Van Gogh's portraiture away from the traditional subjects of royalty and patrons, highlighting his radical choice to depict a modest, working-class family as the focus of an extended campaign. By reuniting portraits scattered across international collections, the show offers a unique opportunity to understand Van Gogh's artistic development in Arles and his deep personal connection with the Roulins. The exhibition also underscores the collaborative power of museums, with the MFA and Van Gogh Museum co-organizing a show that draws on loans from major institutions across the United States and Europe.